Tasmanian Legislative Council

Legislative Council
50th Parliament
Type
Type	Upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania
History
Founded	1825; 199 years ago (1825)
Leadership
President	Craig Farrell, Labor since 21 May 2019
Deputy President and Chair of Committees	Ruth Forrest, Independent since 10 May 2008
Leader of the Government	Leonie Hiscutt, Liberal
Leader of Opposition Business	Sarah Lovell, Labor
Structure
Seats	15
Political groups	Government   Liberal (4)[a] Opposition   Labor (3)[b] Crossbench   Greens (1)   Independent (7)[c]
Length of term	6 years
Elections
Last election	2024 Tasmanian Legislative Council periodic election (periodic)
Meeting place
Legislative Council Chamber, Parliament House, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Website
Tas Legislative Council

The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. Members of the Legislative Council are often referred to as MLCs.

The Legislative Council has 15 members elected using preferential voting in 15 single-member electorates. Each electorate has approximately the same number of electors. A review of Legislative Council division boundaries is required every 9 years; the most recent was completed in 2017. Election of members in the Legislative Council are staggered. Elections alternate between three divisions in one year and in two divisions the next year. Elections take place on the first Saturday in May. The term of each MLC is six years.

The Tasmanian Legislative Council is a unique parliamentary chamber in Australian politics in that historically it is the only chamber in any state parliament to be significantly non-partisan, with a plurality of its members being independents.

Unlike other Australian state legislatures, the House of Assembly is elected from multimember districts while the Legislative Council is elected from single-member districts. The reverse is the case in most of the rest of Australia; that is, the lower house is elected from single-member districts while the upper house is elected from multi-member districts.

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